All posts tagged Dream Theater

Roadrunner Records reports that DREAM THEATER drummer Mike Mangini released two short video clips of himself warming up prior to one of the band’s recent European concerts. Watch him play in 19/6, and see if you can keep up!

Roadrunner Records reports that DREAM THEATER‘s video for “The Looking Glass,” from their 2013 self-titled album, premiered this morning exclusively at Metalitalia.com! Head over there to watch it now!

Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci talked to MusicRadar about about the song, calling it “definitely a tip of the hat to Rush. We’re such fans—they’ve been a huge influence on us, and we continue to admire and look up to them. One of the great things about them is how they write really uplifting songs with positive messages, but they always sound cool…’The Spirit Of Radio,’ ‘Limelight’—those are big, big songs with big arena-rock riffs in a major key. Even ‘Free Will’ has that. The songs aren’t dark, but they’re tough. It’s really hard to write something that can cut both ways like that, but that was my goal. ‘The Looking Glass’ has a few different stylistic changes: There’s the Rush arena-rock major riff, but the verses are tricky as far as time signatures, and the style is a little darker. The pre-choruses are very pretty and flowing—they’re in half-time—and the choruses open up and get really hooky. From verse to pre-chorus to chorus to riff, you’ve got a lot of musical styles, and that helps to keep things interesting.”

Roadrunner Records report that DREAM THEATER have released the video above to promote their current tour and self-titled 12th studio album—it also includes footage from their video for “The Looking Glass” which will premiere worldwide on Monday, February 3! Watch now!

According to Roadrunner Records, DREAM THEATER have invited students from the esteemed Berklee College of Music to join them for a one-of-a-kind show on the band’s upcoming “Along For The Ride” North American tour, when they visit the Boston Opera House on Tuesday, March 25. Tickets for this event start at $35 and are available here.

Dream Theater was founded in 1985 when three of its founding members—guitarist John Petrucci, bassist John Myung, and former drummer Mike Portnoy—attended the Berklee College of Music. Also adding to the significance of this collaboration: drummer Mike Mangini, who joined the band in 2010, is a former Berklee faculty member. This special homecoming will be captured and recorded for a later release. Dream Theater will be joined by special guest ensembles the Berklee World Strings and the Berklee Concert Choir for the second half of the set. The World Strings are an international group of creative improvisers who play with rhythmic qualities seldom heard from string instruments. The Concert Choir stretches its repertoire from traditional and contemporary music through a wide range of genres. The ensembles will layer distinct dramatic elements to Dream Theater‘s production.

MusicPlayers.com recently caught up with DREAM THEATER keyboardist Jordan Rudess to discuss the band’s new self-titled album. An excerpt from the interview is available below:

MPc: Songs like ‘The Looking Glass’ and ‘Surrender To Reason’ both paid a pretty obvious homage to RUSH. Were you consciously looking to throw in those tributes?

JR: “Well, you can’t seem to shake out the Rush elements from Dream Theater, you know? It’s just like—honestly, you know, I love Rush. I think they’re great. But the spirit of Rush doesn’t really come from me; that’s not my thing. But Dream Theater is kind of coming from a similar school of thought and spirit as Rush in a lot of ways, so it kind of makes sense that there’s a little bit of homage, if you will, to that band.”

“We are all really pumped and excited to bring our new live show to North America and to take all of our amazing fans ‘Along For The Ride’! Returning to the ‘An Evening With’ format will enable us to deliver the best DT live experience yet with time for lots of music, and we can’t wait to share it with all of you. With this tour, our goal is for you to be able to step into the world of Dream Theater from the moment you enter the venue. We hope to create an intense and stimulating night both musically and visually and have prepared some really cool things this time around. We’ll be premiering some songs we’ve never played live before, as well as featured tracks from our latest self-titled release and plenty of classic DT songs for all of our long time and hard-core fans. We are all looking forward to a great night of music and super-psyched to kick it all off!”

DREAM THEATER announce their first 360° App (iOS). The DreamTheater360° App will offer fans a unique 360° interactive experience into the Grammy-nominated progressive metal titans’ performance as captured onstage by Mativision multi-camera 360° video technology at Luna Park in Buenos Aires. The DreamTheater360° App is released on January 9th, and it promises to be a thrilling way for fans to interactively experience the band’s onstage world.

The DreamTheater360° App in its first release will include five interactive songs filmed and produced using the Mativision technology, which virtually transports fans directly onto the Luna Park stage right next to the band members and completely immerses them in a unique experience that they can control in real time. Each fan can direct the show by manipulating Mativision’s multi-camera iOS player, and enjoy the concert in any way they want. They can seamlessly choose to switch from among six different cameras while also being able to rotate camera angles by taping and dragging, or by using the device’s built-in gyroscope. Fans can even zoom in and out or simply switch to “auto pilot” mode and enjoy the show without interaction.

With this groundbreaking app, Dream Theater aim to share with fans all the intense moments of a live performance from right beside them on stage, and provide fans with true interactivity to experience the onstage moments with complete freedom.

Along with the unique interactive 360° content, the DreamTheater360° App will also include enriched up-to-date band-related content such as a biography, discography, photos, and continuously updated tour information, news, and social media.

The first release will be just the start: Mativision will constantly surprise fans with frequent updates, adding more and more amazing and exclusive band content. The DreamTheater360° App is available from the iOS AppStore on January 9th, priced at $9.99.
Dream Theater recently announced new tour dates for a North American headline trek billed as the Along For The Ride tour. The coast-to-coast run will pick up on March 20th in Toronto, ON following the band’s European tour and then continues through the end of April where it will eventually wrap up in Guadalajara, Mexico.

A show in Red Bank, NJ at Count Basie on March 31st has been added to the schedule. Tickets go on sale starting today (January 8th).

Dream Theater’s guitarist, John Petrucci commented, “We are all really pumped and excited to bring our new live show to North America and to take all of our amazing fans ‘Along For The Ride’! Returning to the ‘An Evening With’ format will enable us to deliver the best DT live experience yet with time for lots of music, and we can’t wait to share it with all of you. With this tour, our goal is for you to be able to step into the world of Dream Theater from the moment you enter the venue. We hope to create an intense and stimulating night both musically and visually and have prepared some really cool things this time around. We’ll be premiering some songs we’ve never played live before, as well as featured tracks from our latest self-titled release and plenty of classic DT songs for all of our long time and hard-core fans. We are all looking forward to a great night of music and super-psyched to kick it all off!”

Roadrunner Records reports that James LaBrie and John Petrucci of DREAM THEATER were recently interviewed by Billboard about their new album, their upcoming world tour, and more. The two men offered fans a few hints about what to expect when the band hits the road starting this month, and even hinted at where they might go on their next album!

“In the past we’ve been out touring before the actual album comes out,” says LaBrie, “so maybe we’ll sneak one or two songs from it into the set. Over the last three to five years we’ve talked about how it would be great if we could start to make our cycle unfold so the albums are out at least a few months before we go hit the stage. That lets people digest the music so that when we want to play the new songs, they’re actually familiar with it.”
One new song they will be performing is the massive 22-minute suite, “Illumination Theory”; says Petrucci, “When you’re writing a piece like that, you’re kinda doing it a section at a time. We’ll record a bit of it and more from that point, maybe build or edit, but we never actually have played the entire song together from beginning to end. So when we’re in rehearsals it’s always fun and challenging to go back and actually learn what we did and try to memorize the whole piece in its entirety. You really have to get your chops up and play it as if it’s not an effort at all. Eventually it does get to that point—after a lot of work. But it’s a lot of fun, too.”Read the whole thing!